The present invention relates generally to the configuration of a software system and more specifically to the automated adjustment of a software system using user-specific configurations.
In existing software systems, a user must manually navigate menus and submenus to personally configure the system. The software system may be a general system, such as an operation system or a platform application. The software system may also be one or more software applications executed on the operating system or platform.
With the complexity and variety of different software systems, customization can be extremely problematic. First off, there are no standardized approaches for customizing a system, so the user must repeat these operations for each system. Secondly, configuration is typical a verbose process requiring significant navigation within the application and at times potentially a fair amount of knowledge about the system itself.
Configuration instructions for the system are typically found in a manual or user guide. Current systems provide the benefit of electronic manuals which may be viewable using the system itself, when the system is an application or an application running on the system when the system is an operating system or a platform.
These manuals include detailed instructions for multiple steps to be performed to complete a particular configuration. For example, a first step may be to select a particular menu option. The second step may be to select a particular submenu option. The third step may be to select a particular tab within a pop-up window generated by the submenu option. The fourth step may be to select a particular field visible based on the tab selection. The fifth step may be to toggle a value within the selected field. The sixth and final step may be to select an “ACCEPT” button.
In some existing systems, the electronic manual works in conjunction with the system being configured and may provide automated navigation to a particular submenu. For example, an active link may be provided in the electronic manual for a user to circumvent sub-menu navigation and go directly to a particular screen. Although, this is typically only one step of the configuration, so the user must then revert back to the manual to complete further steps. The user must repeat this process for each step, in the proper sequence, until the configuration is manually completed. For multiple systems, the user must then repeat this process for each system.
The current technique for customizing a software system is not only cumbersome, but can also be error prone. The user must manually follow the written instructions to perform the task while actively switching between an instruction window and one or more input screen. If a user improperly performs a particular step, this could cause significant confusion, requiring a user to retrace or re-execute the configuration steps.
The problem of system configuration is further enhanced by the significant number of a systems that a user typically encounters. In a multi-system processing environment, a user may access a significant number of systems, such as a word processing system, a billing system, an electronic communication system, an inventory system and many more.
Problems that arise with a single system configuration are only increased when dealing multiple systems having varying configuration processes, especially if a user is required to manually configure each system.